Here housing estates for families have had to be built to bring down the average age of the population.

Lifelong resident Derek Bastiman, who sits on Scarborough Council's cabinet, said: "During the last eight to 10 years there have been something like 300 homes built in the area, of which 60 per cent have been houses and the rest bungalows.

"We've seen family houses with three, four or five bedrooms, which has been good for the area because the average age was creeping up; there's no two ways about it.

"We've got to be mindful that if the average age creeps up the village will lose its vitality and the one way of addressing that is to release land for some family housing.

"It was identified that the land that was released should be for family housing.and for younger people to revitalise the area."

But although its population has grown to about 9,500 in the past decade Scalby has no post office and is poorly served by public transport at night.

Coun Bastiman, who represents Scalby, Hackness and Staintondale, said addressing the public transport issue was councillors' top priority.

"We did get a bus re-routed to go through one of the housing estates to pick people up but, unfortunately, that service finishes at 7pm or 7.30pm so, to some extent, people are prisoners in their own homes," he added.

"We've indicated another part of the village, off Hay Lane, and we're talking to bus operators to see whether we can get a service there during daylight hours.

"What we don't want is people being prisoners in their own homes; people always assume Scalby is an affluent area but there are still a lot of elderly and infirm people living in the area.

"I think public transport and the lack of it is the biggest concern for residents, and that's what we have to address. It's no good to bring in the free bus travel scheme for over-60s if there are no buses for people to use."

Richard Thompson, a Scalby resident since 1983 and a member of Newby and Scalby parish council, said most of the bungalows in the village were occupied by elderly people, who had been inconvenienced since their post office closed two years ago.

"We put up a campaign to fight against the loss of our post office but it will soon be a couple of years since we actually lost it," he said.

"I would say it's certainly a marked effect on the village as it wasn't just a post office and a convenience store.

"This post office had a retail outlet with it but, like in a lot of places, it was quite a big focal point for the public to meet and use facilities and consequently the villagers don't have that now."

Brian Watson, a member of both the borough council and the parish council, said the nearest post office was now a mile-and-a-half from the village centre.

But he claimed crime and disorder, much of it originating from the newer housing estates, was probably a bigger concern to residents. "There are two big estates that have been built in Scalby ward; the one to the south came first and then there was quite a big development built as you go out of the village northwards," he said.

"I wouldn't have said that it's brought the right kind of people – young working people haven't come.

"The most common complaints I get as a councillor are about crime and disorder, just like everywhere else, and a lack of police presence.

"Those concerns have increased since the new housing estates have sprung up. The trouble isn't always caused by children who live on the estates but a lot of it can be."

Coun Watson said Scalby was likely to see more housing for families because finding affordable housing in the village was difficult.

"Small villages can develop by having, say, six houses built on the outskirts of them, either for local people or local workers, but I don't see the likelihood of that in Scalby. I think we will see another large estate," he said.